Edward Johnson (founder of Woburn, MA)
Edward Johnson ( * probably in September 1598 in Herne, Kent, England; † April 23, 1672 in Woburn, Massachusetts ) was an English Puritan, who recounted his emigration to the colony of Massachusetts to one of the leading figures of the first English settlers generation in New England. For the American literature and history is his 1653 work published in London Wonder -Working Providence of Sion's Savior in New England of importance.
Life
Johnson was born probably in 1598 in the English county of Kent. Little is known about his early years, only that he married in 1618 is assured. 1630 he joined the Great Migration to, the mass emigration of English Puritans to North America. He reached the colony of Massachusetts on board the Arbella, the flagship of the first and largest fleet settlers, and was witnessed by John Winthrop held shortly before landfall sermon A Model of Christian Charity. He settled first in Charlestown, then in Salem and then returned to England to bring his family remaining there. A passenger list from the June 1637 notes that he embarked in Sandwich with his wife Susan, seven children and three servants on a U.S. sailor. He and his family moved first again in Charlestown.
From 1640 he participated in the planning of the new settlement Woburn, which was completed with the formal church planting 1642. He took over the office of the city clerk that he held until his death. Over the years he has participated in numerous other public offices, such as a juror, as an elector ( selectman ) in the City Council and as captain of the town militia. From 1646 to his death he represented Woburn also in almost every annual election periods in the General Assembly (General Court ) of the colony. He was frequently elected to important committees. In 1643 he was one of three nominated by the General Assembly captains of armed train, which established the cult founder Samuel Gorton in Rhode Iceland. As a printer he bought 1648 edition of the Cambridge Platform, the decisions of the New England Synod from 1646 to 1648.
Wonder -Working Providence
Johnson's historical work appeared probably already in late 1653, in London, but carries the print date of the following year. It carries in the first edition the title A History of New England, from the English Planting in the Yeere 1628 untill the Yeere 1652, but this title was probably chosen by Johnson's English printer. In the header bar of the sides of the issue there is the title under which Johnson's work to date is known: Wonder- Working Providence of Sion's Savior in New England ( " The miraculous providence of the Redeemer of Zion in New England "). It represents the first significant piece of Puritan history in New England dar. While also write the governors John Winthrop and William Bradford detailed chronicles the early years of their colonies (Massachusetts and Plymouth), but they were printed in the 19th century, so Johnson's work until the appearance of Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana ( 1702) the most effective powerful work was his kind.
The Wonder -Working Providence contains a wealth of mundane details about the first years of the New England colonies, especially about the cost and practical conditions and perils of emigration and the political and economic factors in the creation of new Siedlunge. At the same time, a millenarian interpretation of New England's history as salvation history, so as fulfillment of divine providence and biblical prophecy is the work, as the title itself.